


Forgiven

by julliangray



Category: The A-Team (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male Slash, Mental Anguish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:40:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julliangray/pseuds/julliangray
Summary: Photo Challenge, fill in a missing scene, Takes place a few days after Face is picked up by the VA in "Mind Games."
Relationships: Templeton "Faceman" Peck/John "Hannibal" Smith
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Forgiven

VA Hospital, Los Angeles, 

"You should have been here, Murdock!" Private Eckhart jumped up and down as the pilot walked through the recreation room doors. "There was an escape on Tuesday, and they fired Berkley on Wednesday!"

"They fired him after all this time?”

"Yeah, a reporter showed up from the newspaper on Wednesday, there was a big meeting and the next thing I know they are escorting him out the door."

"About damn time they did something with him." Murdock nodded as he straightened his ball cap, playing Hunkman had been fun, but he missed his old clothes. "Bet the boys in confinement are sleeping better knowing he's gone."

"You ain't kidding, he was in a nasty mood last Friday, beat the hell out of a few guys, damn near killed one poor fellow, he was the one that escaped. He must have been new, I don't remember him, he was really handsome, blonde hair and blue-green…hey, macaroni art!" the private yelled as he watched one of the orderlies set out bowls of macaroni, glue, and construction paper. "Are you going to do one of Billy?" 

"I might do an airplane, or maybe a helicopter, or better yet Billy flying a plane!" Murdock laughed as he followed his friend to the art table. "Wonder if they will bring out the sparkles?"

"No, probably not after you fairy bombed Nurse Peterson with them last time." The private laughed. 

"Murdock, you have a call from your Aunt Annabel." One of the orderlies yelled out from the nurse's station.

"Don't eat my picture," Murdock warned Corporal Evans as he sat down next to Eckhart. “I’ll be right back.” He declared as he rose from the table to answer the phone. 

"I do not promise anything." The other man smiled as he picked up a noodle and popped it into his mouth. 

Murdock sighed as he trotted over to the nurse's station if Hannibal didn't keep this phone call quick he wouldn’t have anything to work with. He’s seen the Corporal eat through an entire box of macaroni in under five minutes. 

"Hi, Auntie, long time no hear from."

"You need to be ready to leave in ten minutes."

"I thought you just got back from your trip."

"We had a case ready to start before this whole Face; CIA debacle came up; we need to help our clients out before they lose everything they have."

"Are you flying?"

"That’s yet to be determined.”

“I ain’t flying.” Murdock could hear BA growing in the background.

“BA and I will be out front in the van to pick you up?"

"Have a safe trip, talk to you when you get back." Murdock hung up the phone as he made his way back to the craft table. When he got there, he picked up his artwork and headed towards his room.

"Where are you going, Mr. Murdock?" Nurse Peterson asked.

"I want to hang this up in my room before Evans eats it." Murdock held up his picture, showing where several pieces were missing. 

"Mr. Evans, we have discussed this on several different occasions." Nurse Peterson huffed as she moved to the Corporal. 

As the nurse started going over the finer points of how important was not to eat other people's artwork Murdock slipped out the doors, down the hall, out the back doors to the loading docks. A few minutes later, BA's van pulled up, and without incident, he climbed into the back.

"Where's Face?" Murdock asked when he noticed his friend wasn't in his usual seat behind Hannibal.

"The Lieutenant will be meeting us there," Hannibal growled as he turned in his seat to stare out the windshield.

"Okay, so do I get to fly?"

***

'Oh, this was not going to be good.' Murdock thought as he looked from Hannibal to Face. 'Not good at all.'

The whole team knew that when Hannibal gave an order, he expected it to be carried out, and for the most part, the team jumped to follow them. However, there were times, like this one when they didn't quite always agree, and they or more to the point 'Face' would make a suggestion, and they would work the problem out. 

On most occasions, Hannibal would listen to what they had to say, and he would adjust his plan accordingly. However, there were also times, like this one, that Hannibal was riding the jazz and riding it hard. Meaning that there was nothing that any of them, even Face, could say to change his mind. When this happened, they would shoulder on and do their best to roll with whatever came their way to make the Colonel's plan work. The problem was; this time, not only did Face not agree with Hannibal, this time, he refused to go along, and that was not setting well with their Colonel. 

It had only been a few days since they had gone through the fiasco with the fake pardon, and Face had been trying his best to make it up to everyone for his conduct. Now, however, it seemed as though the younger man was not only tired of walking on eggshells, but he was also looking for a fight.

"You're telling me no?" It was posed as a question but sounded a lot more like a statement that Hannibal growled out.

"Did I stutter?" Face asked as he moved his hands to his hips, one eyebrow arching up.

'Not good, not good, not good.' Murdock's eyes widened as he watched Hannibal cross his arms over his chest.

"You're pushing real close to insubordination, Lieutenant."

"That would be fine if you were still a Colonel in the United States Army, Mr. Smith."

'Oh god, Face is going to die!' Murdock's brain screamed as he watched his CO's face turn a dark red.

"Move fool," BA whispered behind Murdock, as he tried to get closer to Hannibal. He might not be able to stop their Colonel from seriously injuring their Lieutenant, but there was a possibility that he could prevent Hannibal from killing him.

"You care to repeat that, Lieutenant?" Hannibal asked as he took a step into Face's personal space.

"Is your hearing going along with your ability to reason, old man?”

Face changed his stance, and Murdock knew Face was getting ready for Hannibal to throw his punch.

"You ungrateful, self-absorbed, little bastard," Hannibal balled his hands into fists.

"That the best you can come up with, you washed up excuse of a military hac…” Face never got a chance to finish before Hannibal dropped his shoulder and swung.

BA moved as quickly as he could, but he still couldn't catch the Colonel's fists before they struck. Hannibal's left fist caught Face on the side of the jaw, knocking him off balance and his right impacting the younger man skull hard enough to drive Face to his knees.

"Get up!" Hannibal snarled as he pulled against BA, who now had him around the shoulders trying to push him back away from his downed Lieutenant.

"Stay down, Face, please for the love of God, stay down," Murdock begged as he did his best to try and get between Hannibal and Face. 

"Back off, man," BA growled as he managed to get a little more space between Face and Hannibal. "You need to back away from him!"

"I'll help you with this plan, but when it's over, I'm done," Face hissed out as he staggered to his feet.

"What in the hell makes you think I even want you on my team!" Hannibal yelled as he pushed against BA to get at the younger man.

"Because you can't do this without me!" Face spat out as he wiped at the blood that was dripping down his chin. "And you know it!"

"We seemed to do just fine without you when you were parading around with Miss Fowler. If I remember right, it was you that needed our help, so if you want to leave, then leave, I'm not going to stop your worthless, thieving, lying, whoring ass!"

"Shut up, man, you don't mean that stuff," BA growled as he watched the pain flash in his little brother's eye.

"The hell I don't, I can find a two-bit whore on any street corner." 

"BA's right Face," Murdock looked at his Colonel in complete shock before turning back to Face. "Hannibal doesn't mean it, he's angry, you're both angry."

"Oh, he means it, and he can say whatever he wants," Face pushed Murdock away. "He's just pissed off; he never got his turn." Face smiled when he noticed the red blush in the older man's cheeks, signaling his embarrassment. "I'll be in my position on time; someone has to protect this team when it all goes south." 

"Don't bother, Peck!" Hannibal shouted as Face started to walk off. "We don't need you!"

***  
Had his plan gone off without a hitch, Hannibal would have been able to gloat and remind his team that he knew what he was doing. If there had been a small bump in his plan, he would have been delighted to tell them that he had years of experience that they didn't, and that was why he was their leader. Sadly for Hannibal, it hadn't happened that way, there was a significant hole in his plan, and it had damn near cost his errant Lieutenant his life, just like Face had predicted.

The plan had been for Face to provoke the crooks into following him down a single lane dirt road where Hannibal and BA would lie in wait. Once the bad guys were where Hannibal wanted them, the Colonel and BA would keep them from moving forward while Murdock and Face would prevent them from retreating to their base of operation. Once pinned down, the thugs would be forced to surrender. The team would round them up and drop them off where local law enforcement would take them into custody, along with the evidence to convict them.

The problem with the plan as Face had pointed out several times in every possible way from a calm, rational voice to yelling and cursing was that he would be caught in the crossfire. 

Face had absolutely no problem getting the crooks to follow him. If Hannibal Smith had taught the younger man anything over the years, it was how to egg on the enemy, and in his current state of mind, it was all the easier. In a matter of minutes, every single one of the thugs wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp before strangling him to death. As Face ran down the road like his life depended on it, and it did, the goons chased right after him.

When Face got to the designated spot, he dove for cover behind a log and grabbed the M-16 that was hidden there for him. In a matter of seconds, bullets were flying over his head from the enemy and his team, pinning him down just as he had predicted. Not that he stayed hidden; every time he got a chance, he rose up to engage the enemy, until a bullet ricocheted off a rock and struck him on the side of the head. 

Hannibal watched in complete horror as Face went down, from his vantage point he could see the younger man crumpled on the ground not moving, his blood soaking into the dirt. His anger boiled to the surface, and Hannibal began returning fire, not caring if he was wounding or killing the men that were now trying to overrun Face's position. In less than ten minutes, the thugs had decided that they had enough and surrendered. While BA and Murdock secured their prisoners, Hannibal moved to check their downed Lieutenant.

"Don't touch me," Face moaned as Hannibal ran a gentle hand over the gushing head wound.

"Easy kid, I need to see how bad you're injured." Hannibal ignored the weak protest as he gently continued to probe the bleeding wound, looking for any signs of entry into the younger man's skull. Face stared at him blankly just a moment before his expression turned hard.

"I don't need your help!" Face snapped as he pushed against Hannibal's chest, forcing the older man away from him as he sat up, his hand going to his bleeding head. "Told you, your fucking plan sucked."

"You were right, are you happy? I admit it, you were right, and I was wrong!" Hannibal snarled back as he tried and failed to maintain his balance so that he landed flat on his ass.

"Hell has just frozen over; the great John "Hannibal" Smith has admitted that he's not perfect." Face staggered to his feet while Hannibal rose to his own.

"What in the hell is your problem?" Hannibal reached out to grab Face's arm as the Lieutenant started to fall again.

"You," Face tried to get out of the older man's grip, but his strength was fading by the second.

"Okay, I get it my plan was flawed, you were right!"

"It has nothing to do with your stupid fucking plan!"

"Then what?”

"You're just like everyone else!" Face snarled

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean!" Hannibal growled back.

"Nothing, just get the hell away from me!" Face shook his head and instantly regretted it as the world around him began to blur.

"No Face, I want to know what you mean when you say I'm just…"The argument quickly came to an end when Face crumpled to the ground.

"What did you do to him?" BA growled as he rushed over to where Hannibal was now kneeling over Face.

"I didn't do anything to him; we were having a discussion, and he went down."

"You were fighting is what you were doing." BA moved to kneel on the other side of Face.

Hannibal began to argue that Face had started it but realized how childish that sounded, so he went in another direction.

"He's got a gash on his forehead." Hannibal ripped the sleeve off his shirt, folding it before pressing it against the still bleeding wound. "We need to get the bleeding stopped." 

"You should have listened to us," BA growled as he moved Hannibal out of the way so he could carefully pick Face off the ground and carry him to the van. "You should have listened to him."

Hannibal watched as Murdock ran from around the back of the van where he was guarding their prisoners, his hands running over their youngest team member's blood-covered face. Hannibal ordered BA and Murdock to look after Face and the prisoners while he ran back to the thug's hideout to grab a second vehicle. When he returned, he sent BA and Murdock back to the prearranged hotel two states over with Face while he delivered the criminals to authorities with the evidence against them.

It was almost three in the morning when he finally made it back to the hotel where the team was held up for the night; he rapped the passcode on the door softly before entering the darkened room. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they did, he noticed that Murdock was asleep on one bed, and BA was sitting on the other watching a movie.

"Where's Face?" 

"Asleep in the other room," BA turned too looked over at Hannibal. "You need to talk to him."

"He doesn't want to talk to me," Hannibal shook his head. "If I even look at him, he's ready to bite my head off."

"It doesn't matter what he says, Hannibal, you know that better than anyone."

"His body language isn't exactly friendly, either." Hannibal crossed his arms over his chest.

"And yours is?" BA glared at him.

"He wants to leave the team; he wants to leave because of me."

"Man, you a fool, he doesn't want to leave the team, and he certainly doesn't want to leave you."

"I don't know," Hannibal ran his hand through his hair. "Ever since this mess with the CIA, he's been so damn angry. I told him that we forgave him so we could move on, but he won’t accept my apology.” 

"You need to talk to him," BA demanded as he turned his attention back to the television, signaling the end of their conversation.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get any further with the other man, Hannibal quietly slipped through the door that connected the two rooms. As he entered, he realized that there was more to their argument than just his plan; he loved the younger man, and the thought of not having Face in his life just wasn't acceptable. Sure he'd yelled at Face to leave, but only because he knew the kid wouldn't go, Face needed the team as much as they needed him. Hannibal closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They needed each other, and if the two of them had to yell and scream for the next year to work things out, then so be it.

Being as quiet as possible, Hannibal moved over to the bed where Face was sleeping. Noting the bandage on Face's temple was wet with blood, he went to the bathroom to get the supplies he needed to change the dressing. Upon returning, he set the materials on the nightstand before sitting down on the edge of the bed and carefully taking the younger man's hands in one his own before calling out his name.

"Face," Hannibal squeezed the hands he was holding. "Face, I need you to wake up, kid." 

"Hannibal?" Face blinked several times as though he was trying to clear his eyes. "What are you doing here?" 

"We need to talk," Hannibal sighed when he felt Face try to pull out of his grip. "And I need to check out your wound; you're bleeding." 

"We have nothing to talk about, and I can take care of myself."

"Face..."

"Let go!" Face snapped as he pulled even harder against the older man's grip.

"Okay, kid," Hannibal released Face's hands as he held up his own in surrender. "Relax, just relax."

"Don't tell me what to do."

Hannibal closed his eyes and counted to ten, willing his anger back down. Face was pushing buttons and looking for a fight, opening his eyes, he started to take a good hard look at the angry blonde in front of him. For the first time, Hannibal noticed the dark smudges under the blue-green eyes and the slightly pale color to the normally tan skin. As his eyes traveled lower, he noted the massive bruising on Face's chest and abdomen, which continued further down, disappearing under the sheets.

"Have you gotten your eyeful yet?" Face asked as he crossed his arms over his bare chest.

"How?" Hannibal lifted his eyes to Faces. "You weren't in Chow's hands that long; we got you out in a matter of hours."

"You're right, you did." Face's eyes hardened as they bore into Hannibal's. "But then you let those bastards take me to the VA."

"You should have escaped easily enough.”

"They drugged me," Face spat out; "The moment they had me out of the apartment they drugged me."

"Face," Hannibal started to apologize, but the younger man wasn't nearly finished as his anger began to build. 

"They gave me Clopixol; it's a fucking antipsychotic Hannibal! They use it on people with schizophrenia for Christ's sake! Do you have any idea what that shit did to my head or the side effects that it caused?" Face shuddered. "When I woke up, I was stripped down to my underwear, wrapped up in a straitjacket, and strapped to a bed."

"Face…”

"I threw up, pissed and shit all over myself! No one came to check on me for two days, and when the fucking orderly did finally show up, he beat the hell out of me for making a mess." Face was shaking, and his voice filled with anger and pain. "But hell, after months in a POW camp, what's a little bodily fluid and a beating, right?" Face huffed. "But do you want to know the worst part?” Face continued to glare at Hannibal though his eyes were filling with tears.

"I waited for you; I kept telling myself that you would come for me…" Face choked on his words, "But you didn't. Then I figure it out. You said that you forgave me for the shit with the pardon, the CIA, and Chow, but you didn't, did you? You wanted to make me suffer for leaving the team. Would you have even cared if I didn't show up for this mission?" Hannibal watched as the tears flowed freely down the younger man's face, but Face didn't seem to notice as he wrapped his arms tighter around his body. "You've finally had enough of me, haven't you?”

For a few moments, Hannibal could only stare at Face in complete shock; he'd had no idea what had happened. He'd figured that Face was still embarrassed by the whole incident and decided not to make contact with him or anyone else on the team. Yes, he had been upset, yes he'd been angry, but he would never make Face suffer like that. 

"No kid," Hannibal spoke softly as he moved forward on the bed so that he was almost side by side with the younger man. "If I had any idea," Hannibal shook his head, "I am so sorry Face, I didn't know you were still there, I thought you had wanted to be alone." Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around Face and pulled the younger man to him. Face, however, remained stiff, his arms still folded across his chest even as Hannibal pulled him to his own.

"I admit it, I was mad at you for leaving us," Hannibal took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I love you, kid," He felt Face try to pull back, but Hannibal kept his hold on him. "I was hurt that you wanted to abandon me after all of these years. Damn it, kid, I would die if you weren't with me." 

"Liar," Face tried to protest, but it came out as a whisper sob.

"No, not to you, never," Moving one of his hands up, he gently pushed the back of Face's head until it was resting on his shoulder. "I love you."

It seemed like forever, and Hannibal was getting ready to release Face when the younger man's arms slowly unfolded and slipped around him.

"I love you too." Face relaxed against Hannibal's chest. "We can work through this, can't we?"

"Of course we can," Hannibal kissed the side of Face's head. "We can do anything we put our minds to, even without a plan." 

"Good cause, your plans suck."

"Sometimes they do," Hannibal couldn't help but chuckle.

"So, where do we go from here?"

"You let me clean up your head wound and take a look at the rest of your injuries, and then we get you back to sleep."

"Doesn't sound very romantic after a declaration of love."

"We have all the time in the world for the mushy stuff." Hannibal smiled as he kissed the blonde head resting on his shoulder. "Come on, kid; let's get you taken care of."

"Not yet, please, just hold me for a little longer."

"As long as you need kid," Hannibal kissed him again. "As long as you need."

*** One Week Later***

"I'm coming; I'm coming, hold your damn horses!" The large burly man yelled as he yanked open the door."What do you want?" he snapped as he looked at the silver-haired man standing on his front porch.

"Mr. Lance Berkley?"

"Yeah?"

"You were recently let go from the VA here in Los Angeles, correct?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You made a recently made the mistake of putting your hands on one of my men." Hannibal's eyes flashed with anger as his right hand balled into a fist. "I'm here to show you the error of your ways."

End


End file.
